In Zoning Dispute, Teardown Looms for New Cape Cod House

In Zoning Dispute, Teardown Looms for New Cape Cod House

The battle over Donald Kline&euro;™s
8,333-square-foot custom home in the tiny hamlet of Truro, Mass.,
began back in 2007. Neighbors complained that the proposed building
would ruin the view, as well as the historic and artistic character
of the windswept Cape Cod bluff where it was sited
&euro;” a location that inspired many landscape
paintings created by painter Edward Hopper, whose works are
collected in museums such as the
Whitney Museum
of American Art
and New York&euro;™s Museum of
Modern Art.
Kline responded that the house complied with building
regulations, and that if the neighbors wanted to preserve the land
they should have bought it themselves. Said Kline, "This is a
simple question of fairness." The New York Times had this
story in September 2007: ("
A Town Tries to
Protect an Artist&euro;™s Inspiration
," by Katie
Zezima).
The fight has outlived Mr. Kline himself, who passed away in
2009. But the neighbors have continued to fight
Kline&euro;™s project, first in the
town&euro;™s Zoning Board, and then in the
Massachusetts state courts. Now, five years and $10 million later,
the house is done. But just months after completion, Truro
officials have ordered the new mansion demolished. The permit for
construction, they now say, was issued in error
&euro;” and the building&euro;™s owners
have 30 days to begin tearing the building down, and 90 days to
finish the demolition. The Cape Cod Times has this report
("
Truro
orders demolition of Kline house
," by K. C. Myers).
Truro&euro;™s startling decision rests on a ruling
by the Massachusetts court. "The Klines received a building permit
in May 2008 that approved the house as an
&euro;&tilde;alteration&euro;™ to a much
smaller house elsewhere on the property," explains the
Boston
Globe
("
Mansion
demolition order has Truro residents debating
," by Brian
MacQuarrie). But the court said, "An entirely new building on a
different location, which is also completely different in
appearance and more than four times the size of its predecessor,
cannot correctly be deemed an
&euro;&tilde;alteration&euro;™ of the
original.&euro;™&euro;™ To comply with
the court&euro;™s ruling, Truro Building Inspector
Thomas Wingard says, he now must order the new building to be razed
and removed. Reports the Cape Cod Times:
"&euro;™In addition to removal of the offending
structure, you are ordered to restore the property as nearly as
possible to its preconstruction state,&euro;™ Wingard
wrote. Wingard was the town official who first issued the Klines'
building permit." The court's complete ruling is cited here
("
Laurence
Schiffenhaus & others v. Donald Kline & others, Appeals
Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk
").
A scant 200 feet from the Atlantic Ocean, the Kline house dwarfs
the scale of nearby older homes, as can be seen in the Google
satellite image below. From the ocean, however, the
home&euro;™s low lines make its size less obvious, as
the YouTube video below, posted by the Cape Cod Times,
illustrates.
\
Opponents of the project point out that the court, as well as
town officials, had warned the owners not to continue building
while the matter was being litigated. To complicate matters
further, however, the Kline family trust which took over management
of the project, and has now been ordered to demolish the building,
has been in a dispute with the contractor who built the project
&euro;” as the Provincetown Banner reported two
years ago ("
Dispute
holds up trophy home construction in Truro's Hopper country
,"
by Kevin Mullaney).
"Construction was halted by a Nov. 30 letter from Orleans
attorney Duane Landreth to Stealth Construction, the general
contractor from Florida who was hired by Donald and Andrea Kline.
Donald Kline died in late September at the age of 76. Landreth acts
as trustee for the property," reported the Banner. "In the
letter, Landreth suspended construction and gave Michael
Bellefeuille of Stealth Construction until mid-December to respond
to several issues concerning the accounting of the project and the
work done. Although Stealth has received over $5.7 million of the
$6 million construction contract, Landreth stated that
&euro;&tilde;substantial items&euro;™ included
in the amount already paid have yet to be provided."
For now, an attorney for the Klines says the trust plans to
appeal the demolition order. Said attorney Diane Tillotson, "The
issues going before the courts in the next appeal have not been
brought up before."
Below: Cape Cod Afternoon, by Edward
Hopper